


Camp Days

by mumblingmaria



Category: Young Justice (Cartoon)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Camp AU, F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2013-08-06
Updated: 2014-12-27
Packaged: 2017-12-22 14:49:26
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 9,824
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/914483
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mumblingmaria/pseuds/mumblingmaria
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Artemis begins what will probably be her most memorable summer ever at Camp Luvenis, a camp were middle school students spend a week with their school. Ready to take on the summer, Artemis can’t wait to see what’s thrown at her during this job.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Pre Camp

**Author's Note:**

> One day I just thought how perfect it would be to have a camp au for Young Justice and just went at it. Hopefully I can capture how quickly camp happens and how amazing it all it. This is super heavily based off a camp I worked at, though that was a scout camp (really the biggest difference), and it also based loosely on personal experiences I have had. I hope you guys enjoy. Chapters will come out as soon as I can get them out, but they’re going to all be fairly long and time consuming to write. My plan is to finish this by new year’s eve. It’s a tentative plan.

Artemis had her feet on the dashboard of the car, watching the scenery fly by. Her mouth was shut tightly as she actively willed her lunch to stay in her stomach. As lovely as the forest they were driving through was, and no matter how much work was done on the road, Artemis felt like if she would hurl if she didn’t get out of the car soon. She leaned forward, resting her head on her knees and praying the road ease up on all the hills. 

“Are we almost there yet?” she groaned, hoping that only words would come out.

“Almost and don’t you dare throw up in this car,” the driver answered. “Mom will have my head for that and you’ll be gone for six weeks and won’t be able to take the blame.”

“I’m not going to throw up, Jade,” Artemis snapped. “But seriously, we need to get there now.”

Jade laughed to herself as she focused on the dirt road again. Artemis leaned back in her seat, turning her attention back out the window. She thought that maybe counting the trees would help her ignore her stomach, but that only reminded her how quickly they were driving over all the bumps on the road. 

Her eyes closed slowly as she began to wonder if it was just the motion sickness making her queasy. While she couldn’t think of a better way to spend her summer, six weeks away from home seemed too good to be true. She knew that it was selfish of her to think this, but getting away from her family life was basically a gift. But with every bump in the road, those six weeks almost seemed more and more like an unattainable wish. The universe was definitely going to find a way to run it and all she would be able to do is wait for that to happen. 

All the possible scenarios began to play through her mind, making her head spin more than it already was. Maybe everyone would hate her, maybe she would just plain suck at her job, or maybe she would end up getting eaten by a bear. She smiled at the last thought, thinking how ridiculous she was being. So what if they didn’t like her, she knew that she was amazing and they would just have to keep up with her.

Artemis was jerked out of her thoughts as the car stopped. She opened her door quickly, fumbling with her seatbelt, trying to free herself from the leading cause of nausea. Once she was out of the car, she took a couple very deep breaths, trying to fight the nausea that was still consuming her. The moment she felt like she had it under control, Artemis looked around.

There was a large cabin, which she could only assume is the dining hall. It rested on top of a hill overlooking a lake, and was definitely the easiest thing to spot on the property. The dirt road continued past the building to what Artemis assumed were the staff lodgings. She smiled as she confirmed with herself that this was still a good idea.

“Hey sis, you might want to start grabbing your things before I get bored and just leave you here,” Jade called, opening the trunk of the car. Artemis walked over grabbing the green duffle bag from inside. Hitching it over her shoulder, she watched her sister close and lock the trunk.

“Where to now?” Artemis asked, looking at Jade.

“The dining hall. I’m not going in with you, I think your bosses will fire you on the spot if they see me,” she answered, smirking. Artemis rolled her eyes and began to walk away from her sister. “But when you see Roy Harper, tell him I say hi.”

“I definitely won’t,” Artemis called over to her. “See you in six weeks.”

Artemis made her way to the dining hall and slowly opened the door. She wasn’t quite sure what to expect on the other side and could feel her nausea coming back a bit. She had been hired last minute and she knew that joining late into any group could be tricky. But hey, new staff members were hired everyday, that didn’t make her an outsider. She had nothing to prove.

“Oh! You must be Artemis! You finally got here!” a voice greeted her as she stepped into the building. It was a completely open space, aside from the kitchen to the left of her. There were rows of tables along the right side next to a wall of windows. There was a group of teenagers standing in the open space of the hall that all turned to look at the blonde. The one who spoke was a ginger girl with freckles all across her cheeks. Around her were two black haired boys and another ginger girl. Artemis wondered if her hair colour met the camp’s requirements.

“Uh, yeah, hi…” Artemis said, waving faintly at the group.

“Welcome to Camp Luvenis, Artemis,” the younger dark haired boy said, making his way over to her. They met half way and he held a hand out to her. “I’m Dick, the happy one in Megan, the surly looking one is Conner, and the current apple of my eye is Barbara.” 

“Right,” she answered, mentally going over the names in her head. “So… where do I go? Not that it isn’t great meeting you, but I just kind of want to get settled here, you know?”

“Of course! Well, you’re in my cabin, so I’ll show you where it is and you can drop your stuff off and all that,” Megan said, skipping over to the girl. “The other first year staff members and the L.I.Ts are out on a hike right now with some of the senior staff members, so you’ll meet them later. But for now, I’ll introduce you to whoever we find.”

“That sounds good,” Artemis said smiling. “Um, what are all your jobs here, if you don’t mind my asking?”

“Hello Megan, of course you want to that! Well, I’m one of the cooks here; so you know, let me know any dietary restrictions. Conner here is on the rock wall with Dick, who is senior rock wall. And Babs works in the office, doing all the administration work,” the girl said quickly, pointing to each person as she spoke about them. Artemis felt she got a hang of these quicker than the names. Dark haired boys work with ropes, ginger girls indoors. Got it.

“You’re archery, right?” Conner asked, pulling Artemis’ focus to him. She nodded, looking the tall and broad, _very_ broad, boy over. “Cool.”

“Hey guys, have you seen Kaldur around? I can’t unlock the storage room to get the damn spinal board,” a voice called from the doorway. The five teens turned to see who it was. A tall, somewhat gangly, teen with extremely vibrant red hair was standing there. Artemis could tell from where he was standing that he had the most intense green eyes she had every seen. She also couldn’t help but notice he was just wearing swimming trunks.

“Yeah, he’s off with Mal fixing bikes. Do you want me to grab the spare key?” Barbara asked.

“Nah, it’s fine… Who’s this?” the boy asked, walking over to the group.

“Artemis, new staff member, archery,” the blonde answered, placing her hands on her hips. 

“Well, _Artemis_ , if you ever need anything, you can always come to me. The Wall-man is here to serve,” he said, taking a small bow. 

Dick began to laugh and shoved the ginger in the shoulder, “Ignore him, he thinks every pretty girl he meets will fall for his charm. His name is actually Wally. He’s on waterfront.”

“Dude! Come on, I’m just being nice!” Wally groaned.

“Wally? People are still named that?” Artemis asked, smirking at the ginger.

“Actually, yes. It’s a fantastic name with a great variety of nicknames,” he said, lifting his chest up. Artemis’ eyes danced over him, completely admiring the view. “And besides, you shouldn’t judge, us unique named kids need to stick together.”

“Right…” she said, cocking an eyebrow at him. “What’s your middle name, we can then find out whose name is actually _unique_.”

“Artemis, want to head to the cabin now?” Megan asked making sure the conversation avoided any unkind directions. She linked her arm with one of Artemis’.

The blonde nodded, still smirking at the ginger, “Well, I’ll see you guys around.” 

Wally smiled at her, maybe a bit too widely because it earned him a smirk from Dick. The ginger elbowed his friend as the two girls made their way out. Megan was giggling and Artemis felt like being a part of this camp was going to be a lot easier than she originally thought, especially if one way would be through teasing the green eyed dork. 

The two girls made their way down the dirt road as Megan began to explain the camp and describe everyone who worked there. There was Karen who also worked in the kitchen with Megan and her boyfriend Mal who was in charge of mountain biking, though apparently either one could do whatever they wanted they were that good. There was Kaldur who was senior waterfront. He, Dick, and Wally had worked together at the camp the longest of the junior staff and apparently caused many problems for the senior staff. Then there were the other first year staff members: Logan and Zatanna who were both on waterfront and Raquel who was on rock wall. 

Artemis’ head spun from what felt like an overload of names and facts. She wasn’t used to meeting and hearing about this many people all at once. But these thoughts quickly left once they reached the cabins. 

“Well, here we are,” Megan said proudly. They were standing at the bottom of a small hill that had six decently sized cabins on it. “We’re in cabin two, the other girls are in cabin one. The boys are in cabins three and four, and the L.I.Ts are in cabins five and six. Senior staff live further down the road and what are basically houses, it’s completely unfair.”

Artemis nodded, a faintly smile on her face. They walked up to their cabin and the blonde was even more impressed once they opened the door. There was a small room that was first half of the cabin with a coffee table and two couches, while the second half housed two bunk beds, a wall in between. There were also dressers and a couple bedside tables in the second half.

“Oh, I could get used to this,” Artemis said dumping a bag on a top bunk. “Which bed is yours?”

“I’m under you and Karen is in the other bottom bunk. Warning, we get up at 6 every morning, just a heads up,” Megan said, standing in the doorway between the two sections. 

“I get up that early anyway, morning jogs,” the girl answered, looking around the room again.

“Oh, good,” the ginger girl said, smirking. 

“What?”

“Nothing, morning jogs are fun,” she answered, eyes darting away, and Artemis could have sworn the girl said something about running with a certain person, but she couldn’t be sure.

“Okay… Well, what should I do now?” Artemis asked, walking over to the other girl.

“The hike should be back soon, so let’s head back to the dining hall. You’ll have to meet your bosses eventually,” Megan said, linking arms with the girl again. 

The blonde smiled and they headed out of the camp. Artemis could definitely see living with this girl for six weeks. She still wasn’t sure about the whole camp thing yet, and she was still nervous about how she was going to fit, but she knew she was ready to tackle this experience headfirst.

\------------------

The next morning started of somewhat mixed. Karen and Megan were up just before her and the three turned out to move easily around each other. Artemis thought that the start of the day was pretty good until she went on her run. Her plan was to run to the main entrance of the camp and back, hopefully taking no more than an hour. Unfortunately, she wasn’t the only one with that plan.

Wally was already outside of his cabin in running gear when she walked out of hers. They both frowned and Artemis stubbornly put her headphones in. They had gotten into a heated argument over dinner the night before and she definitely didn’t want to start her morning off with him. 

The run became more frustrating by the second, what with Wally showing off how good of a runner he was, but mostly because whenever he got out of her sight she would find he had stopped to wait for her before charging off again. By the end of the run Artemis was ready to kill. She couldn’t think of anyone she’d rather strangle than Wally.

Breakfast was a bit better. She made sure that she wasn’t sitting near enough to Wally to have any kind of conversation, which meant she got to talk to more of the other staff members. She could already tell that Zatanna, another first year staff member and the only girl on waterfront, was going to be a close friend this summer. The two of them were having a fierce conversation about what celebrities were actually convincing in action roles when one of their bosses, the program supervisor Roy, stood up.

Artemis gulped a bit. She could still picture the events of meeting him the day before perfectly. The double take on her name and the groan when he made the connection. She hoped he wouldn’t hold her family against her. The last thing she needed some asshole holding her back because of a fling four years ago.

“Okay everyone, so camp starts in two days which I guess is exciting,” Roy said, looking over a clipboard he was holding in his hand. “Which means that today is going to be extremely busy. If I catch anyone of you slacking one bit, you’ll get toilet cleaning duty while everyone is at the campfire tomorrow night, got it?” 

The group of teens nodded, though Artemis could have sworn that the senior staff table was trying their hardest to keep from laughing. She decided that this ‘toilet cleaning threat’ was just that, though that didn’t mean she was going to test it.

“Alright, so jobs. This morning we’re going to make sure that this camp looks amazing or so help me I will find a way to withhold your payment. Cleaning up the main road one last time will be Wally, Raquel, Dick, and Kaldur. Start at the rock wall; go down to the front entrance. Painting the picnic tables by the front entrance and the parking lot will be Artemis and Zatanna, ask one of the older staff members where the paint stuff is. And doing a garbage sweep will be…” Roy’s voice continued, though Artemis stopped paying attention after her instructions.

She gazed lazily over the other staff members, eyes landing at the senior staff table. She had spoken to all of the members of the table the previous day, but could safely say that she was up for waiting a long time until speaking to some again. There was Bruce Wayne, head of the financial side of the camp, and apparently many, many other things, and Oliver Queen, another very wealthy man in charge of the camp, but the ‘fun side’. Both of them were on her ‘avoid talking to again’ list. Bruce was there because a conversation with his was maybe the most stressful thing she had ever done. How could someone so intense work at a camp? Then there was Oliver, who she had met before because of her sister’s fling. He was definitely a lively character and had taken quite a liking to her since the job interview and arriving here. She had never been questioned about her entire life so quickly than in a conversation with him. But thinking about how nice he had been did make her smile.

“Okay, so now that it seems that we’re all done eating,” Roy said, ignoring Wally protest about never being done eating. “I want everyone to head out to their jobs. I asked the kitchen to take their time with lunch, so you’re working until one-thirty, no complaining. Go put your dishes away and get to work.” 

Artemis and Zatanna sighed at each other as they stood up from the table. Zatanna took Artemis’ plate and headed off to deal with them as Artemis made her way out of the dining hall. It was a sunny day, which she was extremely thankful for, the paint was going to dry quickly.

“Hey, Artemis, the paint is here in the tool shed, grab the green,” a voice called to her. She looked for the owner and rolled her eyes. Wally was at the tool shed, grabbing tools for his own job.

Artemis made her way over to him, smirking as she got an idea, “So Baywatch, want to have a race?”

The ginger’s eyes lit up at the word race. She could already tell what his favourite thing to do was, “I’m listening.”

“Whoever finishes their job first has their laundry done by the loser for the duration of camp,” Artemis proposed. She leaned against the tool shed, waiting for the boy to think it over. 

“Deal,” he said after a few short moments, sticking his hand out for her to shake. “But be warned, Kaldur is a very hard worker and I’ve done this job before. You’re going down, Blondie.”

“Whatever you say,” Artemis replied, giving his hand one firm shake. “Now let me get my paint.”

Wally laughed and headed over to his team. Artemis started pulling out cans of paint as Zatanna walked over to her. 

“Do you know how many picnic tables we have to paint?” the black haired girl asked. 

“For what I gathered from Roy, all the picnic tables in the world,” Artemis joked, putting a couple of paintbrushes in her back pocket, as well as a screwdriver. “We’ll just have to wait and see how many are down there. I say we start heading down there now unless we want to be cleaning bathrooms as a second job.”

Zatanna mimed vomiting as she picked up two paint cans. Looking at them she sighed, “Carrying these down to the other end is going to suck, but my arms will look fantastic by the end of the day.”

The blonde laughed and picked up two cans herself. The two girls started down the road, Artemis glancing back and smirking at the ginger getting ready to head off in the opposite direction. He sent a wink her way, earning him a very dramatic eye roll.

Turning back to Zatanna, she frowned. The younger girl was smiling her, an eyebrow raised. 

“What?” Artemis demanded.

“Nothing,” the girl answered. “So, tell me, when did you get into archery?”

They made it down the camp’s entrance after a fifteen minutes walk. They had talked mostly about their excitement over starting to actually work with the kids. Zatanna apparently had always wanted to work at an overnight camp and had finally worn her dad down to let her do it. Artemis was extremely thankful for that.

Once they did get to the entrance, they quickly realized that Roy had them in over their heads. There had to be over fifteen picnic tables scattered around the grounds. 

“How are we supposed to get this all done in a couple hours?” Zatanna asked horrified. “It’s like slave labour.”

“Oh come on, Zee, we can easily get this down. Also I have my laundry on the line,” Artemis said, grinning. “This is so not going to best us.”

The dark haired girl smiled and they made their way to their first table. Artemis opened a paint can and placed in on the table. Handing a brush to Zatanna, she looked over the fade wood.

“Start at the top, I guess?” she said, dipping her brush into the can.

“Wanna race to see who can finish their side first? The competition will make it more fun.” Zatanna said, dipping her brush in afterward.

“You’re on.” the blonde grinned. Both girls started painting while laughing. They quickly finished the top of the table before Artemis started talking again. “So, what’s it like working with the returning staff members? I haven’t really gotten to know them all yet.”

“It’s pretty good,” the other girl answered, her brushing dragging along the side of the table. “All the waterfront staff is pretty amazing. Though I’m pretty Wally and Logan are going to kill each other. Wally doesn’t seem to know when to shut up and Logan’s a bit of a hothead. Kaldur is a good guy though, very calm.”

“That sounds like it could be a nightmare,” the blonde said, starting to paint the bench of the picnic table. “I’m so thankful the archery is taught alone.”

“I think it’ll be fun. I could totally mess with them all summer. I’ll make it work,” Zatanna said laughing.

“Well you seem to be able to handle annoying people better than me. I would probably end up murdering someone,” Artemis joked.

“You and Wally seem to have hit it off pretty well,” the black haired girl said, smirking. “I think you’re very capable of handling annoying people.”

“Please, that boy and I have already had a shouting match. I don’t think that qualifies as hitting it off,” she answered, picking up two of the paint cans. Both girls had finished the table and were heading off towards the next one. “He was the worst the morning on our morning jogs. Our very separate, not together at all jogs.”

“Uh huh,” Zatanna laughed. “I totally get it. It’s camp, cute boys everywhere, I’m not judging. I’ve already got my eye on one.”

“Oh, which?” Artemis asked, keen on stirring the conversation away from Wally. She was starting to regret the bet she made with him. If people were already talking about them, she would have to imagine what would happen if she ended up doing his laundry all summer.

“Dick Grayson. Artemis, he has the body of a god.” Zatanna sighed, starting on the new table.

“Wait, I thought he was with Barbara,” the girl said.

“They’re just best friends, well for now at least. But no, he is entirely single and completely up for the grabs. But have you seen his butt?” Zatanna asked, reaching over and grabbing her friend’s hand. “I swear, the body of a god.”

Artemis laughed and the two girls continued to gossip as they worked. Zatanna brought her up to date on all the couples at the camp. Megan and Conner had been together since basically their start at the camp. Karen and Mal were dating before they started working together. And, much to Artemis’ discomfort, Oliver and Dinah Lance, the camp nurse, were more than dating. She then got a list of all the attempted hooks up the girl had heard of from previous years. Apparently Wally always struck out, and the blonde couldn’t lie that knowing the boy was completely available. 

They talked about plans for after the summer. Artemis confessed she was a little nervous about starting college while Zatanna was freaking out over the idea of getting ready to go. They grinned at each other, knowing that they were definitely going to become close. So what if it started at camp painting tables, they were made for each other. 

They sped through painting the tables quickly. When they were half way through them all, they decided a quick dip in the lake would be a good break. Their clothes dried quickly; the sun was extremely bright that day and soon they were sweating again as they worked under it. They finished painting at around one o’clock and Artemis couldn’t be more thrilled. 

“I won!” she shouted as she closed up a half used paint can. “I’m doing no laundry this summer!”

“What exactly are you talking about?” Zatanna called from the hose she was using to clean the brushes. “You mentioned this before. Spill.”

“Wally and I made a bet that whoever finished their morning job last would do the other’s laundry for the summer. I won, no laundry,” Artemis explained.

“That means he’s going to touch your underwear,” the girl pointed out. 

“Wow, you just had to ruin that, didn’t you?” the blonde said smiling. Zatanna grinned and curtsied to her friend. 

“No! I seriously thought we would have finished faster!” someone shouted from behind them. Grinning, the girls looked over to the main road. Kaldur, Dick, Raquel, and Wally were walking down towards them; the ginger looking like Christmas had been cancelled. “I hate doing laundry.” 

“Wait, what happened?” Dick asked, glee dancing in his eyes. 

Artemis’ grin widened as she began to explain her bet. Soon the six of them were on their way back to the dining hall. Dick and Wally started throwing acorns at each other, the others trying to avoid being hit by the stray ones. They took their time to get to the dining hall. Once they get there, Artemis and Wally take the supplies back to the tool shed.

“So, how was your first job here at camp?” Wally asked, taking the paint cans out of Artemis’ hands.

“It was pretty decent, I managed to get out of doing laundry for six weeks, so I really can’t complain,” the blonder said grinning. Wally grinned back as he locked up the shed after putting the paintbrushes away. “How did your job go?”

“It went well, though I unfortunately seem to have twice the amount of laundry to do now. So, you know, that’s a bummer,” he said laughing.

Lunch went by quickly, Roy seemed to be impressed with the amount of work that got done. He announced that the reward would be waiting down for them at the lake and that everyone needed to go put on a bathing suit. Artemis started to smile but when Wally groaned slightly, she frowned.

“What’s he talking about?” Artemis asked.

“The dock, we’re putting in the dock,” Wally sighed. “Make sure to be in the water, it’s a lot easier.”

Artemis nodded, trying to hide her confusion as they stood up to leave.

“So how exactly does this work?” Artemis asked, now kicking in the water she was in. She was pushing an extremely large plastic block that was floating on top of the lake. 

“We just push these into place, Ollie, Roy, and Wally put it together. And then, voila! Our dock is put together,” Megan said, swimming along side her. “Just be grateful we’re in the water. Dick and Kaldur take getting the sections in with us _very_ seriously.”

“Good to know,” the blonde said, thinking she should thank Wally for the tip.

The two girls continued their way over to the half put together dock. When they made it over, Wally caught Artemis’ eyes and smiled. The girl grinned back and placed the dock piece in place. Oliver jumped on it, saluting the girls. 

Swimming away, Megan smirked at her friend.

“Why does everyone keep giving me these looks?” Artemis exclaimed when she noticed the ginger girl. “Is there something up with my face?”

“It’s nothing,” Megan said, turning around to swim backwards towards the shore. “You and Wally just really seemed to have hit it off.”

“I swear if another person says that…” she muttered under her breath. “We aren’t even hitting it off that well. I mean, I’m close with you and Zatanna after one day, why aren’t people talking about that?”

“Well first off, I’m taken,” Megan said laughing. “And secondly, Wally has never been this not sleazy around a girl before. I think we’re all just hoping he doesn’t strike out again when he’s being such a good human being.”

“And what if I don’t like him?” Artemis asked.

Megan merely cocked an eyebrow and swam off to the next dock piece. Barbara and Jaime, one of the L.I.T.s, swam by her with another piece. Artemis rolled her eyes as she went to catch up with her friend. 

“Can we talking about something else?” Artemis asked. “Tell me about why you started working here, no more boys.”

Megan smiled as she moved their piece in front of them. “My uncle is friends with Bruce and Oliver for years now. So after a couple of summers at home not doing much, my uncle thought it would be good for me to work here. It’s a lot more fun here than at home. I have a lot of siblings, so getting away from them every once and awhile is kind of the greatest thing. Basically, this is my escape from home now.”

Artemis nodded, understanding her friend. This camp was definitely going to be her escape from real life as well. She frowned slightly as they began to push the piece.

“What about you? How did you hear about the camp?” Megan asked.

“My sister worked here a few years ago as an L.I.T. and I don’t know, needed an escape for a few weeks,” Artemis answered. “Nothing too special.”

“Well, I’m glad you came. I bet it’s weird following in your sister’s footsteps a bit though. I couldn’t even imagine coming here if my sisters had been here before me,” Megan said, cringing a little.

“Well, only the senior staff knows her, so it isn’t that bad. Not going to lie though, I was a bit worried they wouldn’t hire me because of her. She… was kind of a trouble maker, only did the one year,” Artemis admitted as they pushed the dock piece in place. 

Wally stepped on it and squatted down, “So ladies, how’s the water?”

“It’s great, Wally. You should totally join us,” Megan said, splashing the boy.

“And stop my fantastic work up here? Pass. Besides, how would anyone be able to handle all this wet?” He asked, gesturing to himself. “Safer for me to stay out of the water.”

“Right, I think they’ll survive,” Roy said, now standing behind the younger ginger. Using his foot, he pushed Wally into the lake, Oliver laughing on another part of the almost completed dock.

“Dude! Not cool!” the now wet boy shouted as his head came out of the water. 

Artemis laughed while looking him over. His hair seemed to have intensified in colour from the water and she enjoyed watching the water slide down his face, magnifying a freckle every now and then. 

Grumbling, he swam back to the dock, lifting himself out quickly. Artemis’ eyes danced over his body, watching the now very wet shirt cling to his back. Megan coughed quietly to grab the blonde’s attention. Blushing, she glared at her beaming friend.

“Roy, you’re lucky you’re my boss now,” Wally muttered, wringing out the front of his shirt.

“Yeah well, that’s what you get for flirting when you’re supposed to be working,” the older boy responded, walking over to the still laughing Oliver.

Wally made a face at his friend before turning back to Artemis and Megan, “Well, I just I’m getting back to work. Catch ya both later.”

He reached fro the bottom of his shirt and began to lift it as Artemis dived under the water. When she came up for air, Megan was swimming towards her laughing.

“Shut up.”

\------------------

Artemis was grabbing a bow from the archery shed when she heard a twig snap outside. She had been at the archery range all afternoon, finally getting the chance to set it up. She had organized all the arrows and bows, having tested a few out. She was about to test a final bow when she heard the snap. She stepped out and was tempted to grab an arrow and shoot. Wally waved at her and then shoved his hands into his pockets. She smiled back and went back into the shed. After a few moments she came back out with a handful of arrows.

“Don’t shoot,” Wally joked, stopping a few feet away from her.

“Please, I’d wait until the end of camp to shoot you, I need the money,” Artemis said. 

Wally laughed and sat down on a bench by the range, “Good to know I have about five more weeks to live.” 

“Only if I’m shooting to kill,” the blonde laughed, placing the arrows she had in a container. There was a short, wooden fence in front of her attached to the wooden deck she was on. Several feet away where targets. “Thankfully, I’m pretty against the whole killing thing.”

“I’ll thank my stars every day,” the boy answered. 

She turned to look at him and asked, “So, what are you doing here anyway? Don’t you have waterfront stuff to do?”

“Nah, we just finished. Roy wanted someone to come and check on you so I volunteered. Chance to see if this new archery girl is any good,” he explained. “So, care to demonstrate?”

Artemis smirked and grabbed an arrow. She attached it the strong of her bow and lifted it up. She pulled back and began to aim. Her muscles moved with ease giving her a joy she only ever felt when she had a bow in her hand. She felt an energy move through her body, igniting it all. Closing her eyes, she took a deep breathe in and let it out. Opening them again, she let the string go, watching the arrow leave her. Seconds later the arrow lodged itself into the bull’s eye of the target. Grinning, she looked back at Wally who whistled.

“Well, I can definitely say I’m impressed. I could never do that,” the ginger said, getting up from his seat. He made his way over to her on the deck and picked up an arrow. “Think you get hit the bull’s eye over there?”

She followed the arrow he was now pointing at the farthest target and smirked again. She took it from his hand and got her bow ready. She glanced at him quickly before letting the arrow go. It hit its target and Wally let out a cheer. He clapped a hand on her back before jumping over the fence to retrieve the two arrows.

“I got to admit, you’re pretty amazing,” he called from the farthest target. “These kids will be super impressed with you.”

“Thanks,” Artemis said, leaning against the fence. 

“Where did you learn to use a bow like that?” he asked when he got back to her. He stayed on the other side of the fence and handed her back the arrows. 

“My dad taught me before… Well, he taught me when I was younger. I guess it just clicked so I kept it up,” she said, shrugging as she gathered up the other arrows. “I mean, everyone’s got their thing. Yours seems to be running.”

“I am a star when it comes to track, it’s true,” Wally said, grinning. “But seriously, you’re amazing.”

“Thanks,” she said again. She turned away from him to head over to the shed and frowned. Roy was standing at the mouth of the trail out of the archery range. 

“Wally, I said to collect Artemis, not flirt with her. Hurry up here, dinner’s almost ready,” Roy said, arms crossed in front of him. Artemis looked back at Wally who now had a blush dancing across his face, and ears to her delight, and was avoiding her gaze. “I’m not going to let everyone wait for you, five minutes.” 

Roy started to leave as Artemis headed back to the shed. She placed the arrows and bow back and grabbed the lock and key for it. As she locked it up, Wally made his way around the fence and waited for her at the trail. She ran lightly over to him and they began to make their way back.

“Excited for the camp fire tonight?” Wally asked, his hands in back in his pockets.

“Actually, I am. I’ve never been to a campfire before,” she answered. 

“What?” he shouted tripping over his feet at the word. “Like never never? Jesus Artemis, what rock have you been living under?”

“We just never camped in my family.”

“Well, you’re in for a treat tonight. Dick and I have been running the campfire since we got here. They’re probably the greatest ones to ever exist,” the ginger said excitedly. “Oh man, you’ve got so many songs to learn tonight. Artemis, I will gladly teach you campfire songs beforehand if you want.”

“I think I’ll just pick them up tonight, I’m a quick learning,” she said, laughing. 

His enthusiasm was getting her excited for the night to come. She listened as he began to ramble about the past campfires he had run and all she could do was smile. They walked into the dining hall and Artemis tried to ignore her new friends’ smirks as the two of them walked over to a table. Zatanna grinned next to her and received an elbow in her side. 

Wally was beginning to tell the table about her lack of campfire experience and how excited he was for her tonight. Smiling, Artemis started to understand why everyone smirked when they were together. Camps were fast passed and new. The turning feeling in her stomach around Wally was just that. Taking a deep breath, she promised herself to take at least this slowly, even if it meant enduring her friends’ looks. If this was going to happen, it was going to be more than just a quick summer fling. 

Dinner went by quickly and soon Artemis found herself being dragged down a pathway. Soon she saw a campfire pit and smiled. After a play by play from Dick and Wally of last year’s campfire, she couldn’t hide her excitement anymore. Quickly, the staff members all sat on the log benches around the large looking woodpile. They sat around chatting as they waited for the fire to start. 

Suddenly they heard a loud crashing sound and Wally and Dick came running down the path with two larger branches on fire. They danced around the pit a few times before lighting the fire. Everyone cheered and Wally announced they were taking Artemis’ campfire virginity so this was the most special campfire he’s ever thrown. 

The night continued on the same energy level. Songs went by, some Artemis picked up quickly, other not as much. Wally forced her to do all the songs with actions to them. After awhile Megan brought out marshmallows out and Conner passed out sticks for roasting them. Wally tried to start an eating contest but everyone denied it, knowing he would win in the end. 

At some point in the night Artemis found herself pressed up against Wally, both of them sitting on the ground and leaning against a bench. His arm was around her shoulders and they were laughing about how she had gotten the words to multiple songs wrong. She smiled as he tried to feed her a marshmallow, which resulted in the majority of the staff throwing marshmallows at them. 

At around midnight, Bruce stood up and announced that they all needed to get to bed since it was an early start in the morning. Artemis’ stomach turned, knowing that the camp would be officially starting when she woke up in the morning. She was both excited and nervous. She wasn’t sure what to expect, but for once in her life, not knowing seemed okay. The people she had gotten to know over the last couple of days seemed to help ease her weariness of the unexpected. For once, she felt ready to take on anything and everything unknown to her.


	2. Week 1

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please.... no one go look for when I posted the first chapter. i'm already so embarrassed about how long it took me. BUT YO LOOK. CHAPTER TWO. and there will be a chapter three sooner than a year and a half. i prooooooomise.

Saturday came and went in a whirlwind, and Artemis wasn’t entirely sure how. The morning was the misleading calm before the storm, but then when one o’clock hit, so did the winds. She was paired off with Conner for driving kids into camp. And by driving, the girl meant barge driving, boat driving, traveling by water. The camp was set up so that the middle school groups that camped there would be barged out to the various camp sites around the lake (and then back out the next Saturday in the morning). Artemis, having only just gotten her boating license a week before camp started and having no actual idea of how to drive a boat and having had no time to learn how to drive said boats and considering she could barely canoe to save her life, she was completely grateful to be partnered with someone with actual boating experience. 

The afternoon was a lot of fun, though a lot of work as well. Conner was quiet, so while it was awkward the first boat rides back and forth, they fell into an excited conversation about motorcycles. While she had only ever been on one once, she could definitely keep up on her end of the conversation. From motorcycles, they moved to books and TV shows, what schools they were looking into, what they hoped the summer would be like. Conner let her drive the boat a few times, though he stayed very close to her in case of an immediate need to steer them away from any shores or rocks. 

It took much longer than she thought it would. Artemis had no idea how much stuff was needed for a week of camping when there were twenty pre-teens and a couple teachers. How much food did pre-teens actually need to eat? Also, she had no idea why any adult would offer to take pre-teens camp.

Oh god, she was going to have to teach them to shoot a bow and arrow. Were Oliver and Bruce insane? Probably. 

As it turned out, her first lesson went pretty well. She was confident enough when it came to actually saying the lesson, she had practiced on Megan and Karen way too late into the night. Sure, there was some stumbling over her words, but could you blame her? She worked alone with a bunch of kids who all wanted to be Katniss and Hawkeye (apparently Legolas was so _passé_ ). 

“Okay, so welcome to Camp Luvenis. I’m Artemis and I’ll be your instructor today. Now, for those of you who are returning, can you tell me what the first rule here at Luvenis is?”

She managed to get through the rules with a surprising amount of ease. Her confidence sky rocketed when she showed the kids that she could easily string a bow and just how amazing she really was at archery. She was sure that she was going to be one of those counsellors that broke campers hearts by existing. She was very proud of that fact. 

The lessons that day went by fairly smooth. There was a trouble maker in each group, of course, but no one ever got injured and only two boys were banned from archery in the first ten minutes. It would have been the highlight of her week had they not cried a bit. Ugh, _men_. 

Each day she had six lesson, each lasting an hour. There was an hour lunch break in the middle. It wasn’t a bad set up, but by the end of her first day, Artemis flopped down at the dinner table and had to be bribed into eating she was that tired. Other lessons had different lengths, like sailing which had only two three-hour lessons a day with way more campers than Artemis would ever be able to handle. She was glad to have her hour long ones. 

Wednesday came by and Artemis had her first actual break: free lessons all afternoon. No pre-teens, no worrying about the fact it was probably going to start raining any moment. No, Artemis was going to get to sit in the dining hall and just fix arrows. What more could a girl ask for? 

She set up her arrow fixing station at the far end of the hall and smiled when Megan sat down across from her about an hour after lunch had ended.

“How goes the mending?” the ginger girl asked. She picked up a finished arrow and looked it over. “Need any help?”

“I’m fine,” the blonde answered, “I’ve got a flow happening. There aren’t that many broken arrows, though the fact some are broken is ridiculous. Kids, they’re ridiculous. But I guess in their defence, there were a bunch still broken from last summer.”

“I think they’re kind of funny,” Megan said, giggling. 

“Oh definitely, it’s hilarious when they almost stab each other,” she muttered.

The two girls looked at each other and laughed. They fell into a comfortable silence and Artemis continued to mend the arrows in front of her. Rain started hitting the windows of the dining hall and they both glanced up.

“There’s a sailing lesson happening right now, right?” Artemis asked as she watched the sky begin to darken even more over the lake.

“Yeah,” Megan said. Getting up, the kitchen staff member walked over to the window. “And it is super windy out. Those poor kids are going to have an awful time coming back in.”

“Will they end the lesson early?”

“Why do you ask, curious is a certain ginger will get off work soon?” the girl at the window threw over her shoulder.

“What, no!” the blonde exclaimed, looking back down that the arrows in front of her. “I was just wondering. Cause I’m new here. I don’t know how things are handled. Remember?”

Megan smiled as she sat back down. “Of course,” she said. 

“Whatever.”

“You know, you two would make a great couple. And I don’t mean just a camp one. You two work well together,” she said.

“Um, hate to burst your bubble, but Wally and I have only known each other for a week and I’m pretty sure we’ve spent half that time fighting with each other,” Artemis said, pointing an arrow at the girl across from her. “I think you’re mistaken on us being a match.”

“I found your ‘fighting’ more like a verbal sparring match in which you two keep the other on their toes,” Megan said, shrugging. “A perfect match. And besides, camp moves quickly. I’ve seen people get together the moment they arrive here.”

“Okay, sure. Whatever you say, weirdo,” the blonde said, shaking her head. 

Artemis reached for the final arrow in front of her, trying to ignore the words from her friend. Okay, so maybe Wally and her did fight a lot, but it was really more like a verbal sparring match. And when they weren’t sparring, they got along well. Like, really well. Maybe they did already start drifting towards each other when they were eating meals or just hanging out around the camp or when there were odd jobs to do. Maybe she had started enjoying the way he waited for her on the morning jobs when he got too far ahead of her. 

Maybe. But she wasn’t about to go and admit that one out loud. It’s only been a week, she’s not crazy.

When the blonde started cleaning up the supplies around her, the doors to the dining hall flew up and two very wet waterfront instructors came in.

“I swear to God, Logan, if you don’t learn to drive a damn 9.9 soon, I’m going to throw you off the dock every day left in the summer,” Wally shouted, shaking his arms to get the water off them. 

Megan giggled and glanced at Artemis, who was keeping her head and eyes down on her work.

“Oh, right, because the entire lesson was my fault. It’s my fault it rained,” the younger lifeguard shouted back.

“Whatever, learn to drive the fucking boat already!” Wally yelled walking into the kitchen.

“Wally, get out of there now, you can’t eat anything out!” Megan yelled, running after her friend. 

Artemis rolled her eyes, and finished cleaning up her supplies. She gathered up the arrows and glanced outside again. She needed to run down to the storage room before dinner but she didn’t really want to run out into the rain. She glanced at the large clock in the room and sighed. It was four and she really needed to get this down there.

She grabbed the arrows and her bag of mending supplies and made for the door. 

“Wait up!” Wally called from behind her. He jogged up to her, smiling. “I can take that for you, if you want. I’m already wet.”

“It’s fine, I’m going to have to go outside anyway. I have to get to my cabin before dinner,” the blonde replied, shrugging. She made her way out of the building and groaned immediately. The rain was cold.

“Come on, stubborn. The faster you finish the faster you get to change into your uniform for dinner,” the boy next to her said, grinning. 

“Great,” she muttered. 

They made their way to the storage room and and quickly stored everything. They stood inside waiting to see if the rain would let up. After five minutes of shivering, they decided that it was going to be going strong for the foreseeable future.

“Race you to the cabins?” Wally suggested, raising an eyebrow at the blonde.

“Sure!” she answered and she ran out of the room. She heard the boy yell after but she only continued to run and smiled. She knew he would have to close up the room and if she could make it to the top of the stairs before him she had a good chance of maybe beating him. Artemis ran as fast as she dared over the slippery wood and then mud. She could hear the ginger calling at her now and it made her run faster. She ran down the road towards the cabins, ignore the slight incline in it.

It was when she slipped on the grass in front of all the cabin that she realized just how close Wally was behind her. Damn his speed. 

“Careful,” he laughed as he wrapped his arms around her fast to steady her. The result wasn’t successful as he began to slip as well. Soon, both teens were sitting in the mud, laughing. “A draw?”

“Excuse you, but I clearly reached the cabin area first, I definitely won,” the girl said, standing up. Artemis smirked when she looked at her jeans. “Looks like it’s laundry night.”

“Aw, come on,” Wally groaned, standing up after her. He ran a hand through his hair before frowning at her. “Can’t you wait till my day off?”

“I need my jeans, I only have two pairs!”

“You’re just trying to torment me,” he said, bumping her with his shoulder. She laughed and nodded as they began to walk to their respected cabins. “Fine, I’ll come to your cabin after dinner to grab what you want washed, monster.”

“Thank you so much, Wally. You’re truly a life saver,” Artemis called after him as she opening her cabin door. Artemis watched him disappear, a smile dancing across her face. 

“Yeah, yeah,” he answered with a wave of his hand and then disappearing into his own cabin.

(If anyone asked what she had been up to that night, she would have denied the fact she spent her time with Wally as he did their laundry and that she almost fell asleep when they were watching a movie together on his bed. She’d also deny how it was a very enjoyable night.)

———————————

The next was a full day of work for pretty much everyone at the camp, but it was the event after dinner that was getting them through it. As best they could, every week would have some sort of camp activity. Races of all sorts, water fights, capture the flag; the list went on. The event that night was the annual race. Artemis was definitely looking forward to it.

It was the one consistent event they had. As many of the junior staff members could enter except for one this year. Wally wasn’t allowed to actually race because of the fact he was a star track member at his high school and had won each time the last three years. The yelling match between Roy and Wally during lunch was mostly definitely heard by the entire camp and the staff had to keep from laughing as the junior staff member stormed out of the hall, lunch half eaten. The rest of the staff was then allowed to sign up for the race if they wanted to. If they weren’t running, they’d be helping out somehow.

The contestants were as following: Artemis, Mal, Logan, Cassie, Virgil, Kaldur, Babs, Karen, and Raquel. The returning staff were all shocked when Conner choose to not participate, as he was a close second last year. It turned out that he wanted to just help Megan with refreshments at the end of the race.

The afternoon went by quickly and all through dinner, Wally sulked next to Artemis. He picked at his would, grumbling about how Roy changed since his promotion. Dick sat across the table, laughing openly at him friend. It wasn’t until the end of the meal that he said Wally was allowed to run, just not compete. The ginger perked up at the worlds and went about finishing his food. 

They were given an hour to change and get ready. They were to meet outside of the dining hall and then run halfway to the main end of the camp (the guest camping sites were located here, for when family of the staff wanted to visit for a few days). 

Artemis did a quick warm up around the cabin area before heading down to the start of the race. Almost everyone was down at the starting line, though Wally was one of the staff members missing. The blonde paid no mind to it and she went to stand with Karen and Mal. The three of them chatted and playfully told each other how they were going down.

“Okay everyone, can the racers line up?” Roy called. The nine competing lined up in front of the program supervisor and got into starting positions. “Now, Jaime will be at the end up the race and he’ll have a stop watch to keep track of the top three times. No purposely trying to trip each other. No running off of the road for short cuts,” the ginger shot a glare at Dick who was standing behind him, “but if you see Wally, feel free to push him off the road. We’ll turn a blind eye to that.”

Everyone chuckled and waited for Wally to respond. The boy still hadn’t arrived.

“Okay, if there aren’t any questions, let’s get started,” he said. “On your marks, get set.... GO!”

A whistle blew and the nine took off. They made it about a hundred feet from meters from the dining hall when they heard what had to be a war cry coming from behind them. Glancing over their shoulders, they saw Wally come running out of the dining hall and towards them, covered in red and yellow paint. Everyone picked up their pace, not wanting the ginger to gain on them. Unfortunately, the boy was made for running. He soon had a lead on the group.

Artemis felt her thighs begin to burn about halfway through. She was delighted with the fact she had been running this path everyday, but that had only been just over a week. Everyone else had time on her. 

When she made it across the finish line, it took all of her willpower to not collapse on the ground. Tim handed her a cup of water that she gingerly started sipping. The girl felt a weight on her shoulder and looked for the cause. 

“Good race, you did pretty well,” Wally said, resting his arm on her shoulder. Artemis laughed, almost spitting her water into his face. “No, I mean it! You had a great time!”

“I came in like, fourth place. And that’s not including you,” the girl retorted. 

“Well, I don’t count so you better make sure you aren’t including me,” he said gravely. He grinned at her. “But man, that Cassie. She’s quite the runner. She was starting to catch up to me towards the end.”

“Good, you need your ego to calm down.” Artemis said, elbowing the boy. They laughed as the group began to slowly make their way to the starting line. The LITs took the lead, laughing together.

Artemis was a little jealous, she heard from the long time staff members that being a LIT was the best year of camp. She wished she had taken the chance when she was younger. She was how close Dick, Wally, and Kaldur were. She hoped she could get there with any one of the staff members. 

After showers and an evening snack, the older two cabins found themselves sitting on the waterfront looking up at the stars. They swapped constellations stories, everything from Lyra the Lyre to Sagittarius and Scorpio. Artemis’ favourite was Aquilla the Eagle (but mostly because she already knew the story about Prometheus). The group was out much later than they should have been, and it was Kaldur who suggested the return to their cabins before Roy had the opportunity to find them. They all groaned at the thought of the program supervisor arriving there. 

The next day came and went, campfire went without a single bump. Artemis was even able to sing along to the majority of the songs, thanks to Wally the week before. 

As she laid in bed the Friday night, the blonde couldn’t help but be amazed with how quickly the week went by. Everything still felt too fast while it being the most relaxed and comfortable week of her life. She felt like she had been there for half her life. Camp was just unlike any environment she had ever known. She had trouble wrapping her head around the fact that she could teach her lesson flawlessly. She could give directions around the camp. Hell, she even already had a camp voice down pact. She had taken such a huge step into fitting in and she hadn’t even noticed.

Turning in her bed, she smiled. She knew the next day was going to be long and tedious (she was to get up at 6 a.m. to drive the first group out with Dick, and then drive barges with him all day) but she knew that the rest of the summer was going to be a breeze.


End file.
